Sanral to enhance revenue stream

Sanral will seek to enhance its revenue stream and has embarked on a process to develop a long-term vision for the management of the national road network, says Skhumbuzo Macozoma, the new CEO of the national roads agency.

He emphasised that Sanral wants to engage with South Africans on achieving a balanced funding portfolio with fuel tax-based revenue and toll income and undertook to reach out to provincial and municipal governments, the private sector and civil society.

"The agency will pursue fresh engagements with relative provincial and municipal governments to ensure that road infrastructure planning is integrated and that Sanral programmes contribute to regional and local social and economic development.

"We will explore progressive strategies to pursue partnerships with the private sector and civil society to ensure successful national road infrastructure development over the medium to long term.

"This will bring certainty in terms of Sanral's borrowing plans and its capital project pipeline," said Macozoma.

He warned that deferred investment in maintenance and new roads construction projects will result in exponential cost growth in the future - the maintenance backlog alone already stands at R197 billion.

Roads are a critical enabler of development and a prerequisite for the delivery of health, education and social services through the provision of access to these.

There is a dire need to improve existing road infrastructure while providing extra capacity. Already the highways around the country's major cities are becoming severely congested, reducing mobility and threatening economic growth.